2 Mumbra men held for giving fake visas, tickets to job seekers

Two Mumbra residents were arrested for allegedly cheating more than 25 people by providing them fake visas and air tickets.

Two Mumbra residents were arrested for allegedly cheating more than 25 people by providing them fake visas and air tickets.

Mohammed Hanif Khan, 50, and Shakeel Ahmed Sheikh, 40, were arrested by the Naupada police late on Sunday after the police received information about malpractices from Khan’s office in Thane (West).

“Khan had rented a place in Dhobi Aali from where he ran his Sea World Group Import and Export Company for the past six months. On receiving a tip-off, we checked his office, where we found the fake passports and visas,” Assistant Police Inspector AN Kadlag said.

Four persons, who had gone to the airport on Sunday, came back after their tickets were rejected, Kadlag said.

One of the four persons — a Ghansoli resident Udaybhan Singh, 35, — filed a complaint of cheating and forgery.

“Khan, who is the main accused, thought of this idea and executed it with the help of Sheikh, his daughter Rihanna and another accomplice, Munna. Rihanna and Munna are absconding,” Kadlag added.

Khan would tell people about the job opportunities in Dubai and provide them with fake visas and air tickets. His forged visa copy had glaring errors like it had a non-existent ministry of interior mentioned on the left-hand side of the copy. But none of the victims managed to catch these errors, Kadlag said.

He would charge around Rs 50,000 per person. “So far he has cheated people of more than Rs 8 lakh,” said Kadlag

Most of them cheated are from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar

“I was supposed to go to Dubai to work for a construction company. An agent introduced me to Khan and I paid him Rs 95,000 to get the visa and ticket. I am not educated so I didn’t know whether the visa was a valid one or not,” said Singh.

The police are now trying to trace the other two accused.

The arrested accused were produced in court and have been remanded in police custody until October 16.